I Think You Could Do Much Better Than Me

I smiled over at Rose as her wavy hair blew in the wind. It was a little after ten and it had warmed up to about seventy degrees, so I had the convertible roof down. I had given Rose a pair of my sunglasses and I wore a pair myself. We still held hands as I drove us back home.

Rose looked happier than usual. A smile was permanently plastered on her face and I couldn’t contain the smile that controlled my lips either. My mind kept replaying when Rose said she loved me and I swear every time I thought of it, my smile got bigger.

As we neared home, I looked at Rose who was looking out the window pouting slightly.

“What’s wrong?” I questioned. I kept my attention on the road, but glanced at Rose every few seconds.

“Nothing really,” She told me. “I’m just not ready to go home.”

I shook my head slightly and chuckled, “Neither am I, but we both have to leave each other sometimes.”

She sighed, “I know, but I really like being with you.”

“I’ll tell you what, babe. We can hang out all day tomorrow and do whatever you want to do,” I said giving her hand a slight squeeze.

“I would really like that,” Rose said flashing that gorgeous smile that made my heart melt every time.

I pulled into Rose’s driveway after a few minutes. My heart was still putty inside of my ribcage when I opened the car door for her. When the smiling girl who was nearly a foot shorter than me got out of the car, I picked her up bridal style and took her to her door. She didn’t open the door like she usually did when I walked her to her door. Rose wrapped her arms around me in a tight hug and I stood there awkwardly for a moment, and then hugged her back. I wondered why she had hugged me so tight, but didn’t question it.

We stood there for a few moments just embracing in front of her door until she finally pulled away from the hug.

“So I’ll see you tomorrow then?” She said looking up at me.

“Yeah, tomorrow,” I smiled.

She grinned, “Okay, see you tomorrow, Ryan.”

“See you tomorrow, love,” I gave her a kiss goodbye and shuffled back to my car.

“Ryan!” I heard Rose yell.

“Yeah,” I said turning around. I was met with Rose jumping on me and almost knocking me to the ground.

“I forgot to tell you something,” She laughed as she looked at my shocked expression.

I gave her a confused look. “What did you forget to tell me?

“I love you,” Rose smiled.

That drew a big smile from me. “I love you too.”

Rose got down with a smile still on her face. “Tomorrow,” she said walking backwards up her driveway.

“Tomorrow,” I laughed as I got into my car.

I started the engine of my car and sat in Rose’s driveway for a moment after she had gone into her house. I really wasn’t looking forward to going home. I pushed the thoughts of dreading to go home aside and backed out of Rose’s driveway and started toward home.

When I reached my house, I was sure that my parents were home. I parked outside of the garage like I had the night before. I crept in through the front door and I had tiptoed up half of the stair when I heard my mom’s voice.

“Ryan Zachary Henderson,” she spoke, “Come here immediately.”

I sighed, but made my way back down the stairs and into the kitchen. My dad was in the kitchen too which was a bit strange. He usually just sat watching TV when he wasn’t at work.

“Ryan Zachary, where have you been?” My mom questioned. She sounded furious and I cringed at her tone.

“I was at Dayln’s,” I told her pulling the best lie I could out of my ass.

“And you left early this morning just to go to Dayln’s?” She asked. I know she didn’t believe me, but I nodded in response anyway. “You got a letter in the mail and—“

My dad cut my mom off with, “What is this shit, Ryan?”

My dad held a college acceptance letter to a performing arts college. I snatched the letter from his fingers eagerly and scanned over it a little. I was halfway through the letter when my dad cleared his throat taking my attention from the letter.

“You never answered the question. What is that?” My said through clenched teeth.

“It’s a school I would really like to go to.” I said nonchalantly.

“Ryan, we’ve talked about this…” My mom trailed off.

“Oh yeah, that time you both told me I couldn’t go to an arts school and didn’t give me a good reason why? Yeah that was a nice talk.” I said sarcastically.

“You know why we don’t want you to go to an arts school,” My dad said still not lightening his tone.

“Well dad, maybe I don’t want to be a doctor or a lawyer,” I said glaring at him.

“You can do whatever you want Ryan, but I am not signing that paper and neither is your mother. If you decide you really want to be a musician, then don’t bother to call us your parents.” My dad said turning around in his chair and going back to whatever he was doing before I got home.

My mother gave me somewhat of a sympathetic look, but that couldn’t even bring down my level of anger. I was sure my face was brighter than the sun. I left the kitchen and went quickly to my room so I could cool off.

I wasn’t even mad about my father saying he wouldn’t sign my college papers. I was 18 and I could do whatever I wanted without having his signature. What had really upset me was when he said that I shouldn’t bother acknowledging my parents as my parents. Parents were supposed to support their kids no matter what they wanted to do. Or so I thought.